Upper Peninsula to Gaylord, MI

We arrived at beautiful Beaver Creek Resort in Gaylord today.  We will be here for one week and then will go to Waldenwoods for three weeks.  Just sitting for one week feels great after our road trip from California.   

Manistique Lighthouse

Deer!  On Hwy. 2 in the U.P.  Thank goodness

we had enough warning.

A freighter on Lake Michigan

The Mackinac Bridge from St. Ignace

The Mackinac Bridge - currently under construction

The Mighty Mac

 Big Mac

A boat heading to Mackinaw Island

Benjamin Beaver at Beaver Creek Resort

Upper Peninsula - Day 2

Today we drove out to Stonington to see the Peninsula Point Lighthouse.  The peninsula divides Lake Michigan between Little Bay de Noc and Bib Bay de Noc.  The last mile of the drive out there was a narrow, dirt, tree-covered road.  It didn't make it very easy to maneuver the dually out there! 

Peninsula Point Lighthouse

The stairs inside the lighthouse.

There were dozens of butterflies on the point.

Another butterfly on a dandelion.

Lake Michigan (Little Bay de Noc).

 The Minneapolis Shoal Light Station off the tip of the point.

Deer in Stonington.

Deer in  Stonington.

 That should be able to remove the snow on the RR tracks!

A Soo Line Engine in Gladstone, MI.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula

We arrived in Rapid River, MI in the Upper Peninsula

yesterday.  We are about 20 minutes from Escanaba,

so we've spent most of our time there.  It's hard to believe

that this is the first time we've ever camped in the U.P.  

We're leaving on Sunday for a week in Gaylord and 

then we'll be back at Waldenwoods.

We're really getting anxious to see the grandkids!!!

 

What a beautiful sight!  Although, I do think the slogan is stupid.

This was the 1st roadside park in the U.S.  It's in Bates Twp., MI

An 1890 building in Crystal Falls, MI

Sand Point Light House on Little Bay de Noc

This Chicago Fire Department boat has definitely seen better days!

A seagull caught in flight.

Gladstone Lighthouse

I always knew the mosquitoes in the U.P. were huge,

but this is ridiculous!   :-)

Pelican Rapids, Minnesota

Today we drove to Pelican Rapids, MN (at a friend's suggestion) to see "Pelican Pete", the World's Largest Pelican.  Are you noticing a pattern here?  :-)  It was a gloomy day and it rained off & on all day.  Just as we reached the dam to take pictures of Pelican Pete, it started pouring and we got soaked.  :-(  We had lunch at a nice little pizza place in town and waited for the rain to stop again.

Pelican Rapids

Pelican Pete, the World's Largest Pelican

Another view of Pete

 Pelican Pete at the base of the Mill Pond Dam on the Pelican River.

One of several pelican statues in front of businesses on Main St.

 Another cutie!

What the hell???

Interesting local history...



Detroit Lakes, Minnesota

We arrived at Forest Hills RV & Golf Resort in Detroit Lakes, MN yesterday afternoon for a 4-night stay.  It feels good to be in one spot for a few days and in our opinion, this park is about as good as it gets.  Our pull-through site could easily fit another RV & tow vehicle on it.  There is a beautiful lake visible from our large back window and the golf course looks really nice.  It is also an AOR park, so we are only paying $9.00/night to stay here. 

 A view of the park from our campsite.

Our campsite with the lake behind us.

Another shot of our campsite.  The golf course is beyond the front of our rig.

Jamestown, North Dakota

We've spent that last 2 days in Jamestown, ND and our RV park is adjacent to the National Buffalo Museum and Frontier Village.  Jamestown is all about the buffalo.  Everything in town seems to have Bison or Buffalo in the name.  The herd of buffalo at the National Buffalo Museum includes 3 albino buffalo, but they were not visible when we were there.  They let the herd roam the entire field and we couldn't see any of the albinos, even with binoculars. 

An Alaskan Brown Bear at the National Buffalo Museum

 A buffalo calf...at least they are cute when they are young.

If this doesn't explain it, I don't know what would!

Goats at Frontier Village

Dakota Thunder, the World's Largest Buffalo Monument. 

Bob is standing under it.  It's 26' high, 14' wide,

46' long and weighs 60 tons.

Bob walking under Dakota Thunder.

Louis L'Amour's writer's shack at Frontier Village.

Jamestown is this famous western writer's hometown.

Part of the buffalo herd from the National Buffalo Museum.

This picture was taken from our campsite.

Two buffalo that belong to the RV park's herd. 

This picture was also taken from our campsite.

Billings, Montana to Jamestown, North Dakota

On Friday morning (05/04/12) we left Billings, MT for a 2-day stay in Glendive, MT.  We always make our reservations weeks in advance, but when we arrived at the RV park in Glendive, we were told that we did not have a reservation.  All they had available was water & electric, no sewer and the old bitty in the office said the water wasn't great and the electric had issues.  We decided to keep moving on down the road.  We stopped at a rest area and called ahead to our next stop and asked if we could change our reservation two days ahead.  They were fine with that and then we changed our subsequent stop from a 2-day to a 4-day reservation at Detroit Lakes, MN.  We drove on to Jamestown, North Dakota (525 miles) and we have spent 2 days here.  Tomorrow morning (Sunday) we will leave for Detroit Lakes, MN. 

Woodstock or Bust???  Looks like a bust to me!

 Painted Canyon, North Dakota

Painted Canyon, ND

 Painted Canyon

Painted Canyon

She's a butte, Clark!  :-)

"Salem Sue" the World's Largest Holstein Cow in

New Salem, North Dakota. 

She's 38' high and 50' long.